{my new years eve baby}

  My new years baby is here! Before it gets too late, I want to remember his birth story. We were able to have a friend who is a photographer come take pictures of the birth, so I will update those when we get them!

   It was the Sunday before Christmas, and I started having contractions in the morning. By church, I struggled through Sacrament meeting, and hardly to get through my lesson without having to stop and take a moment to breathe. I thought for sure I'd  have the baby soon, or by the end of the week, but to my surprise the contractions stopped, and I felt nothing for the next week. This past Sunday, I was feeling great, and everyone was surprised to see me at church after what had happened the week before! I was quite disappointed that I felt nothing after having so many signs that the baby was coming. I wanted to have this baby in 2012, and by Monday morning I did not think this was going to happen.

   Monday morning, at 11 am, the contractions came on suddenly and intense right from the get go. They are normally suppose to build but as soon as they came on, I started to time them at 2 minutes apart. I thought for sure I was timing them wrong! Jeremii had the day off of work, and we had planned to take down all our Christmas decorations that morning. I was afraid the contractions would stop again, so I decided to try to work through the contractions, and was somehow able to sweep and mop the floors- but not without cringing every few minutes.  The contrations only got worse, so I decided to call L&D for some advice. Luckily they were not busy that day, and decided to have me come in for "observation". Ha, really? Maybe when I was talking on the phone I played it off well, but I was in pain. Serious pain. So we called our friend who lives in the next village over, dropped Hallie off, and were on our way. I was a bit afraid when we were driving up to Landstuhl, because in the car I seemed to lessen in pain when I sat down and relaxed. I thought about doing a few laps around the hospital before checking in, but as soon as I started to walk, they were right back at the intensity as before. When we got upstairs to L&D, we were the only family there, so they took us to the biggest room which was quite nice. The two techs were male and one a trainee, so they took their sweet time getting everything set up, taking vitals- the usual. I was a bit frustrated, because I've been through much worse pain in my life, but I was still excited to get that epidural in me. Finally the nurse got to the room, and asked if I wanted to be checked. Um, yes please! She was quite surprised to find I was already dilated a healthy 6-7cm! The techs came back into the room, and started setting up the warmer and all the essentials for the baby.
 We had checked into the hospital at about 2:15pm, and by 3:15 we were waiting on the lab work to come back so I could have the epidural. We had called our friend who is a nurse anesthetist, but couldn't get ahold of him to come in to do the procedure. Ironic enough, another friend from our ward was working that day, and he came in to do it. He was great, but the epidural...not so much. My right leg was more numb than the left, and once the meds kicked in, I was numb up to my chest. They reduced the amount of meds unfortunately, and so I felt pretty much everything during the birth. It was just lovely.
  Although I had an epidural, I could feel that his head was far down and just waiting to make an entrance. Jer was hungry, and asked the nurse if he had time to go grab something to eat. She thought for sure he had enough time..Ok, how many times does it take to realize how close someone is to giving birth? Granted my water had not broken yet, but I could feel his head. Right after Jer left my water broke, (of course) and they checked me again.. a full 10cm! It was showtime and Jer was not around. The doctor said, "Alright, well...we'll wait for Dad to get back, and we'll have this baby!" Let me tell you how awesome it was to hold the baby between my legs for a half hour while jer ate. I bet you get the idea. As we were waiting, I watched the monitor that recorded my contractions and also the baby's heartbeat. I noticed that the baby's heart rate started to drop every few measures, and I was worried. The nurse played it off as not as much oxygen in the birth canal, and its normal to see the heart rate drop while in the canal. I wasn't fooled, and I was nervous. When Jeremii came back into the room it was set with the table, all the instruments, and it looked quite different than when he left. He came in and held my hand, and I remember saying, " I can do without the onion!" He had gotten a burger and thank goodness it didn't make me sick smelling that onion. I was focused on having my baby.
  At this time, I could feel pretty much everything- ether the epidural had worn off, or it was a very small dose of medicine, or I just had an amazing epidural the first time. I'm guessing with the former, and it made for a much different experience. Now I know what they mean when the say "ring of fire." It took no more than ten pushes, and at 5:45pm exactly my sweet Carden was born! I was sitting half upright, and I was able to help receive him, and put him on my stomach. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, but luckily his coloring was still perfectly pink. That explained for his decrease in heart rate! I was able to hold him for as long as I wanted before they took him to weigh and measure him. Dr. McCloud was our Dr., and she was fabulous. She was a great coach through the labor, and also checked in on me in the mother baby unit before heading home on her shift. Totally recommend her if you are planning on delivering at LRMC :) Carden was 5lbs, 15oz,  20" long, and perfect.
 I was so apprehensive about having a boy before Carden was born, but now I can't imagine it differently. I love my boy. He could not be more perfect, sweet, healthy and happy. When I look at him I see my future. He has brought so much love to my life it brings me to tears. He has such a sweet spirit, and much more laid back than his big sister. Already he has been a much easier baby than hallie- hence the almost 4 year gap in between. It is just a bit different, and I am grateful for that. I am so in love with my son, I love spending every minute with him. He is my little sunshine.